AUSTIN, Texas — We've come to another drought monitor update, and this week, we're tracking a much-improved situation across Central Texas.
In fact, the Interstate 35 corridor, as well as Milam County, are no longer in the "abnormally dry" category and are no longer in a drought designation as a result.
Additionally, portions of Gillespie County north of the Pedernales River have dropped from the "moderate" drought to the abnormally dry category. This is part of a 6% increase in areas not in a drought and a 6% decrease in the abnormally dry area.
The "moderate" drought dropped by 4%, and and there was a statewide 3% decrease in the "extreme" level of drought. However, the "exceptional" drought did make a return to the Lone Star State, but it's only three-tenths of a percent and that area is well out in West Texas, toward El Paso.
Keep in mind that this update did not include a majority of Tuesday's rain, as the cutoff for the current drought monitor passed at 7 a.m. Tuesday.
With these newfound improvements, Lake Travis has risen 5% over the last week, from 42% to 47% as of Thursday morning. It's still rising and is expected to continue to rise over the next few days. In fact, it is possible that Lake Travis could be up to 642 feet for the first time since October 2022.
In addition to all of that, we could still see a few scattered showers or storms through Thursday afternoon and on through the weekend. While these storms won't necessarily be heavy, we could still get good rain totals under an isolated downpour and everyone in the KVUE area is fair game for that.
Stick with the KVUE Weather team as we track the latest on the rain and how it's been impacting our drought.
Your seven-day outlook is below:
